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Nokia Lumia 720: Best Windows Phone in MWC 2013

Of
the two devices that Nokia launched at MWC, the Lumia 720 seems to be a
more capable performer and fills the gap between the Lumia 620 and 820.
The company is targeting photo enthusiasts with the Lumia 720. The
primary camera is 6.7 megapixel with an f/1.9 aperture and Carl Zeiss
optics, while the 1.3 megapixel snapper at the front is described as an
"HD-quality, wide-angle" camera.The 720 comes with the latest
Nokia services, including Nokia Music, the HERE location suite and an
optional snap-on wireless charging cover. We would have liked to see a
higher resolution than the WVGA that the 720's 4.3-inch display comes
with.

The Nokia Lumia 720 comes in five colours at an estimated
starting price of EUR 249, which roughly translates to Rs 17,700. The
chipset inside is a Qualcomm MSM8227, with its two cores ticking at
1GHz. There’s an Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB of RAM thrown in. The device
is expected to be available before the end of Q1.

The 4.3-inch 720 retains the familiar unibody casing and it's
available in five different colours - we've opted to photograph the
rather striking mustard yellow. Do you like it? We actually do.

If
you've used a Lumia before, the new model will seem unremarkable, but
it is a lot lighter than the high-end Lumias at just 128g.

The
phone will make its debut in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore soon -
the Nokia Lumia 720 UK release date is likely to be in the Spring. It
seems the US release date will be further out.

Performance
of the handset is snappy - there's a 1Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon
S4 processor inside - but the screen doesn't innvovate - it's 800 x 480
just like the 820's 4.3-inch display. It 217ppi though, and it has a
high enough resolution to make some third-party live tiles look a little
substandard.However, all the standard OS and Nokia Here add-on apps look the part, and you won't be disappointed with how things look.

The
camera is, again, a selling point for Nokia; Carl Zeiss optics are used
as usual, although it's only a 6.7MP snapper. Pictures did look vibrant
though, but some images were a bit blurry under the MWC show lights. Video is 720p at 30fps, while the front camera has a resolution of 1280 x 960.

We've always liked how the Lumias look and feel in the hand, but some
of the handsets have been a little too big for our liking. 4.3-inches is
a good size

On the top of the handset there's a 3.5mm headphone jack and you can see the camera lens and flash here too.

On
the side are the standard three Lumia buttons - volume, screen on/off
and the camera control. This picture makes the handset look a lot
thicker than it actually is - it's 9mm.

Towards
the bottom of the back is a speaker as well as three tiny holes for a
Wireless Charging cover, which fits on the back of the device..

Early verdict

The
Lumia 720 doesn't have the high end features we've come to expect from
the more expensive Lumias but it does have a decent spec sheet for
something that's bound to be available on next-to-nothing contracts.
Nokia wants to spread the Lumia's appeal - and that of Windows Phone 8 -
and sees this and the low end 520 as crucial to its hopes.